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Show RISE A N D PROGRESS OF DANCING. 25 ceremonies or diversions. The holy writings mention it in many places. It was not only reckoned in a high degree honourable, but, as Pariset and Villeneuve observe, it was the object of a number of laws, made by various ancient legislators, who introduced it into education, as a means of strengthening the muscles and sinews, of preserving the agility, and developing the gracefulness of the human frame. Plato, the gravest philosopher of antiquity, did not consider music and dancing as mere amusements, but as essential parts of religious ceremonies, and military exercises36. In his books of laws he prudently prescribed such limits to music and dancing as were most likely, in his judgment, to keep them within the bounds of utility and decency. The Greeks frequently amused themselves with dancing, and carefully practised it, on account of its immediate tendency to the improvement of gesticulation, from whence it derived the name of Chironomia37. Theseus, Achilles, Pyrrhus, and even Socrates3S, as also many other illustrious men, often diverted themselves by means of this art. In short, from the remotest ages a multiplicty of high authorities have successively proved that dancing tends equally to our amusement and to our instruction. The whole body moves with more freedom, and acquires an easy and agreeable appearance. The shoulders and arms are thrown back, the inferior limbs attain greater strength and elasticity, the muscular masses of the hips, thighs and legs, are symmetrically displayed, the feet are constantly turned outwards, and in the gait there is something peculiar, by which we immediately discover a person that has cultivated dancing. Dancing is of signal service to young people, at that time of life when / / |